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KYLE SHEWFELT
Kyle Shewfelt (born May 6, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian gymnast. His gold medal in the
men's floor exercise competition at the 2004 Athens Olympics was the first medal ever by a Canadian in an artistic
gymnastics event and was the first Canadian gold of the 2004 Olympics.
Shewfelt was considered a medal threat in advance of the Athens games. In the end, Shewfelt finished first on Floor
and fourth on Vault, amid much controversy, with Marian Dragulescu taking the
bronze medal despite a fall on his second vault. Canadian gynmastics officials protested the judging but, months later,
no change was made in the vault medals despite the fact that four of the vault judges were eventually sanctioned.
Many noted that Dragalescu is Romanian as is Adrian Stoica, who leads the Men's Technical Committee.
Born in Calgary, Shewfelt first began practicing gymnastics in 1988 influenced by a neighbor. His father was also
an athlete playing for the Brandon Wheat Kings hockey team. While Shewfelt was a skilled hockey player, he turned to
gymnastics at an early age. He attended Calgary's National Sport School in order to complete his high school education,
while pursuing his Olympic plans with fellow athletes at the school. Kyle trained at Altadore Gymnastic Club under coach
Kelly Manjak from age six up until the 2004 Olympics. Manjak married in 2004 and moved following the Olympics to Ontario.
Shewfelt stayed in Calgary, training with coach Tony Smith at the University of Calgary.
Shewfelt's long-held goal of Olympic gold was endangered by an ankle injury in March 2004, but he made a full recovery in
time for Athens. Before the Olympics Shewfelt has speculated on moving to
Cirque du Soleil after his athletic career is over.
A gold medal could easily open many other opportunities for him, however, as he has instantaneously became a household
name in much of Canada.
In 2005, he acted as himself in the Hungarian made semi-biographical sports movie Fehér Tenyér (White Palm).
In 2006, Shewfelt made a comeback to the international scene, leading the Canadian team to a gold medal at the
Commonwealth Games in Australia, collecting bronze on Floor and gold on Vault for himself.
His focus increasingly directed towards the team competition, Canada later in 2006 finished second only to Olympic
Champions Japan in the Pacific Alliance competition. At that event in Hawaii, Shewfelt won both Floor and Vault.
Next was World Championships in Denmark where Shewfelt led his team to a best ever team ranking (6th) and where
he collected another World Championships medal (bronze on Floor Exercise).
In August 2007, Kyle fractured both knee caps on a fluke landing training for floor exercise just prior to the
World Championships in Germany. Withdrawing from the event, Kyle hopes to heal and get back into training in sufficient
time to make a bid for the 2008 Summer Olympic team.
For more information, visit his
profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
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